Fast start for PM West results in 54-34 win over East

SWIFTWATER — Pocono Mountain West coach Stacy Perryman has been after her team to get off to better starts. The Panthers listened against their archrival.

JOE MIEGOC

SWIFTWATER — Pocono Mountain West coach Stacy Perryman has been after her team to get off to better starts. The Panthers listened against their archrival.

Jackie Benitez scored all but three of her 23 points in the first half and Rona James had a double-double in Pocono West's impressive 54-34 victory over Pocono Mountain East in Mountain Valley Conference girls basketball Monday.

The victory kept the defending conference champion Panthers (6-4, 5-0 MVC) unbeaten in league play and a strong start was a big reason why.

Benitez had nine points in the first quarter as West led 17-6 after eight minutes. It was much of the same in the second quarter as Benitez scored 11 points and James had six of her career-high 18 points to help the Panthers take a 34-18 lead into the locker room.

"This is our rival and we always come here to play strong," said Benitez, who finished with 13 rebounds, three blocked shots and three of steals. "We need to start coming out every game thinking it's our rival."

That might not be a bad idea.

Perryman has pushed her team to start faster, but hasn't always seen the results on the court. Some of that can be attributed to the Panthers' inexperience — they had three new starters coming into the season and have been without guard Jasmine Murray after the sophomore suffered a scary spinal cord injury in the second game of the season against Pen Argyl. While Murray is improving — she's in a wheelchair but stood before the game for the National Anthem on Monday, a big improvement according to Perryman — Perryman finally saw Pocono West heed her words in the opening 16 minutes against PM East (5-6, 3-2).

"We talked about being disciplined and aggressive right from the get-go," Perryman said. "I think we've been real relaxed to start games and then had to play catch-up. Our goal was to come out and be aggressive and offensive and see what happens."

The Cardinals began paying more attention to Benitez in the third quarter and James made them pay.

The junior scored six of the Panthers' seven points in the third as Pocono West maintained its 16-point lead going into the final eight minutes. James scored on a runner in the lane to start the fourth quarter after pulling down and offensive rebound and finding some extra room to operate.

"(PM East) started trapping her and she needed some help so we had to help her out," said James, who also pulled down 11 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass. "We all came out and worked as a team (Monday)."

It's been quite a change for Benitez.

A starter from Day 1 of her career, the junior is now expected to be the Panthers' leader and not just on the stat sheet. Benitez has been fantastic to start the season ­— she's scored in double figures in all 10 games, has scored less than 14 points and had her sixth game of at least 21 points Monday — and it's something the two-time All-MVC first-team selection expected of herself after the graduation of her sister Ramonia Benitez and Steph Davis from last year's conference title team.

"I expect it out of myself and there is some pressure there, but it's always good to have something like that on you," said Benitez, who now has 849 career points. "That makes you come out every game and play strong."